How were you able to make the tiles for this? I'm currently trying to make a base for personal use and don't know where to start on making the island.
First, I created a base using Orbiter Base Maker (selected location and created blank level 4 tiles by double clicking on the grid).
Notice the tile list? This will become important later.
Then, I got a
blank grass texture (the 700x700 one) from
CGTextures, but you need to register first. What I did with that was shrink it down and copy/paste it until I got a array that was 4096 x 4096. Then, I used a blur filter on it.
A partial view of the texture:
Level 4 surface textures are 2048 x 2048 pixels (and
5 x 5 kilometers), and the island is divided into four parts, so I am editing a 4096 x 4096 texture (10 x 10 km) before dividing it up.
I used Inkscape to create the island's silhouette:
Using an image editing software (I used GIMP), I selected and copied the blurred grass texture, then used the Bucket Fill tool -> Pattern fill -> Clipboard to paste it onto the silhouette.
For some reason, there were creases in the texture (not shown here) that only showed after using the bucket, but I edited them out later using the heal tool.
Another layer was made, and a paintbrush (size 10 with a sandy color) was used the create the final beach outline of the island. I then cut corners from the grass-textured layer.
I created a glow (representing shallow water) around the edge of the island using this
Edge Glow plug-in for GIMP (if you are using GIMP and don't know how to install scripts, search for a tutorial).
Save the 4096x4096 as a PNG, then make multiple versions in which you crop it into 2048x2048 sections of the island. Remember the tile list editor from eariler, and how the tiles were arranged? That is how you should name your tiles.
I turned the .png files into .dds files using a dds plugin for GIMP (save using DXT5 compression because that is for smooth transitions between the opaque and the transparent, like that edge glow). Finally, I copied and pasted those files to the */Textures2 folder.
